College of Education Grant Guidelines

As a general rule, release from teaching 1 course will be granted for salary savings from an external grant equal to 12.5% of annual salary. Multiples of 12.5% may yield additional releases but more than 2 releases in a year will be uncommon, and more than 3 releases will be approved only in rare circumstances.

All course buy-outs must be approved by the department head; assuring that learning needs are met is a top priority. Faculty members should not assume automatic approval but should consult with the head in advance. Heads may also approve exceptions to the guidelines.

Non-mandatory cost-sharing is discouraged. At the university level, non-mandatory cost-sharing is not allowed though individual units may still do cost-sharing. If cost-sharing is mandated or needed for competitiveness, cost-sharing in the form of a portion of a faculty member’s budgeted time is permissible.

Course release should not ordinarily be an expectation when effort is cost-shared; this contribution is viewed as part of a faculty member’s budgeted research time.

As an incentive to those who secure salary savings through external funding, 10% of salary savings will be returned to the researcher via the standard incentive account after the end of each academic semester.